2015 turned out to be a good year when it comes to metal and it was a particularly good year for death metal. The year end list contenders have more representation from death metal than the other styles. If Affliction Gate’s new EP ‘Dying Alone’ is any signs of things to come, then 2016 shouldn’t be any different from 2015. These Frenchmen already have a couple of EP’s and a full length to their credit. The upcoming addition to their solid discography continues the trend of unleashing well written old school death metal riffs.

“Art for the sake of art is an empty phrase”. This is something that is lost on so many bands today. While there are bands out there that are furthering the genre of metal, the evolutionary curve of the genre seems to have plateaued out a bit in recent times. Perhaps this is the reason I swing more towards bands like Markradonn. An experimental death metal band from Florida, Markradonn’s music is one that does not pander to the lowest common denominator. When they released their début EP, ‘Final Dying Breath’ back in 2013, it came out of nowhere and steered me towards some of the more ballsy music out there. The way this band mixes brass music, timpani and ethnic percussion with extreme metal is something that has rarely been attempted in metal before. While the first album introduced this concept, the real challenge to take this idea forward and creating more with it. That is exactly what we get in the band’s second EP, ‘The Serpentine Deception’. Markradonn take something they’ve established and expand upon the ideas to create something that is still rooted in the ideas of the first release, but managing to sound fresh at the same time.

Led by thrash veteran Steve Smyth, well-known for his guitar duties in bands like Testament, Nevermore and many more, ‘The Final Cull’ is the second full-length release from One Machine, and the first to feature new vocalist Chris Hawkins. And after checking out some songs from their first album I wholeheartedly support their decision to get a new vocalist.

Once upon a time, it used to be easy to guess a band’s origin based solely on their sound, especially in the death metal circles. Each scene sported a unique characteristic which would immediately give away a band’s land of origin. In today’s scenario, globalization has not spared metal and it becomes harder to discern the location based on sound. Take the case of Insision for example. Based on their brand of death metal, one would be inclined to say they’re from the Florida scene. In actuality, the band hails from Sweden and have been churning out straight up, old school brutal death metal since 1997. The music here is straight forward and has absolutely no frills. Insision are all set to unleash their 4th full length, titled ‘Terminal Reckoning’ after a break of 8 years on Sevared Records.

“We have overstayed our welcome. We have extended our hand of demise to our earthly mother, and we should all be ashamed.” – so reads the Facebook page of Pennsylvania based noise mongers, Dendritic Arbor. This is the kind of misanthropy that resonates deeply with me and even before hitting play, I knew I had found something special. All the built up hate and anger seems to have spilled over into the band’s music. The band’s debut full length, ‘Romantic Love’ on Grimoire Records and the upcoming follow up EP titled ‘Sentient Village / Obsolescent Garden’ are hands down some of the most extreme sounding records to come out this year.